The decade-old system that specifies least standards for staffing in nursing homes need to be restructured, the report says. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must call for nursing homes to have at least one RN within the facility during all times. Based on the departments' 2001 report to Congress on minimum staff-to-patient ratios for nursing homes, the HHS should mention the staffing levels that increased with the number of patients. Central and state report cards on nursing homes should give information on levels of nursing staff, and measuring of staffing levels should be developed for hospital report cards. The healthcare facilities should avoid using nurses from temporary agencies to fill the vacancy. (Substantial Changes Required in Nurses Work Environment to Protect Patients from Health Care Errors)
Working for long hours on the part of the nurse's makes them fatigue since it decreases their energy and reduces their attention to the patient and thereby poses to be a serious danger to the patients. Most of the nurses work for 8-12 hours per shift and some work for more hours. Those concerned regulatory bodies of the state should disallow nursing staff from working longer than 12 hours per day and more than 60 hours every week. In addition to changes in staff levels and working hours, the plans of restructuring of the hospital which began in the mid-1980s brought about considerable changes in how nurses function. As a major step in humanizing nurses work atmosphere and bringing back trust, the report advises health care organizations to involve nurse leaders at all management levels and to seek input from nursing staff regarding decisions about work design and execution. Nurses are in major positions to help identify unproductive work processes that could lead to mistakes, recognize reasons of nursing staff turnover, and find out suitable staff levels for each unit.
Orientation programs for newly appointed nurses and ongoing education programs are being held back due to cost factors, though surveys point out that many licensed nurses who are newly permitted do not have the overall thorough preparation to offer care for present days' patients. Many RNs are not getting continuing education and training to accommodate themselves with the current growth of latest technology and medical knowledge. Health care organizations should devote financial funds to support nursing staff in the current attainment and preservation of knowledge and skills. The committee's suggestions are given at a time when there is a high turnover of nursing staffs, as well as a nursing scarcity that is expected to deteriorate in the future. The health care organizations are helped in employing and maintaining nurses by executing the suggested changes in nurses' work atmosphere. As the supply of nurses is unluckily made thin right now, they must be encouraged by work processes, work space, working hours, staffing practices and a culture that increasingly protects against mistakes and eagerly spots and alleviates mistakes when they take place. If the recommendations suggested by the report are followed, then nurses will like to stay in health care organizations. (Substantial Changes Required in Nurses Work Environment to Protect Patients from Health Care Errors)
Recommendations for a better nursing Work Environment:
The American Nurses Association - ANA highly praised the Institute of Medicine (IOM) for a report, which shows a clear relation between the nursing work atmosphere and patient safety, and advises improvements in health care working conditions that would lead to safer patient care. Based on a survey released in 2000 by to Err is Human IOM study, which shows that 98,000 patients die yearly due to medical errors, a study Keeping Patients Safe: Transforming the Work Environment of Nurses, were made on these recommendations. ANA has long asserted that better patient safety and quality of care cannot be attained without spending in and appraising nursing, said ANA President Barbara Blakeney, MS, APRN, BC, ANP. The study gives proof that immediate steps are to be taken to make better the nurses' working conditions and by doing so the patients can be prevented from mistakes. Blakeney noted that Congress should take immediate action on several awaiting legislative measures that would improve the nursing work atmosphere. (ANA Commends IOM Report Outlining Critical Role of Nursing Work Environment in Patient Safety)
These include proposals that 1) authorize safe nurse/patient ratios, 2) strictly control the insecure practice of compulsory overtime, and 3) offer adequate funding for nursing workforce development. Blakeney says that the nurses and patients across America are asking...
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